There's no need to watch "Parking Wars" if you're in downtown Pontiac.

Hundreds of cars were kicked out of the Phoenix Center on Tuesday after the city discovered work being done on the parking garage without a permit.

Emergency Manager Lou Schimmel said it was brought to his attention that there was jackhammering and other construction happening at the city-owned Phoenix Center, and he asked the building department to check it out.

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The Ottawa Towers office buildings, which sit next to the Phoenix Center, have sued the city in an attempt to stop demolition of the sprawling parking garage and amphitheater.

The city's top building official said the structure has been declared unsafe for occupancy.

"We had a report that there were people working on the deck of the Phoenix Center and they had jackhammers," said Pontiac Building Director Jeff Bowdell, of the firm Wade Trim, the city's contractor for building department services.

"That kind of tells me that they're doing something (that's) structural, and to do that you've got to have permits, more than likely. It's also my understanding that there were lights on in the Phoenix Center, and there's no power in the Phoenix Center, and that means someone's performed electrical work without permits."

Will Koski, the facility manager for the Ottawa Towers, said he's been making repairs to the structure. He said the Ottawa Towers did not get a permit for the work on the city-owned structure.

"We have easements that give us the right, but not the obligation, to repair the structure if the city fails to do so," Koski said. The city has known that Koski and the Ottawa Towers have "worked on and maintained that structure for the last 5 1/2 years," he said.

"We jackhammered holes. There are some tension cables that had snapped and we were repairing them," he said. "I hired a structural contractor that has 40 years of experience repairing parking decks similar to that deck. He can't believe the city would tear it down. He said it's one of the best parking structures he's ever seen."

Most of the cars that were parked in the Phoenix Center moved to Lot 9 on Tuesday afternoon as deputies from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office watched.

The Ottawa Towers' tenants, which include the Michigan Department of Human Services and other state agencies, park between 200 and 300 cars in the south side of the structure daily.

The contractor for the work, who asked not to be named, said that a city building official "said if we didn't cease (work) immediately, we'd be arrested."

In October, the structure went dark and the stretch of Orchard Lake Road running underneath was closed when copper scrappers did an estimated $276,000 in damage to the parking garage's electrical system.

The Ottawa Towers have restored lighting on the parking deck's south side using power from the office buildings.

Schimmel announced plans to demolish the Phoenix Center on July 5, 2012, citing $8.1 million in repairs and upkeep needed on the structure during the next 10 years. He has said the Phoenix Center costs the city about $175,000 annually.

The Ottawa Towers' lawsuit contends that the demolition would take away the office buildings' parking, violate easement rights and damage the structures. The suit asks for $9 million in damages if a demolition takes place.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Michael Warren granted a preliminary injunction in the case on Nov. 30.

The city's $2 million contract with Adamo Demolition Co. hasn't been signed due to the litigation.